High School

The Jerusalem Academy High School for Music and Dance is located in the new Younes and Soraya Nazarian Building on the Givat Ram Campus, adjacent to the Academy's main building. The High School, a 6-year lower and upper secondary school, was founded in the late 1960s to instruct talented pupils in music and dance.

The curriculum combines general studies at both regular and intensive levels with specialization in music and dance. Music pupils receive instruction in harmony and sight-reading, history of music, literature of music, composition, and participate in workshops, choirs, orchestras, and chamber ensembles. The dance curriculum includes history of dance, music of dance and anatomy, along with practical lessons in classical ballet, modern dance, jazz and improvisation, highlighted by participation in repertoire workshops with renowned Israeli choreographers.

Pupils in both study tracks take their matriculation examination at the levels suited to their abilities and enjoy artistic-creative experiences through exposure to well-known artists from the Academy and outside the Academy as well. Pupil achievements in the matriculation examinations are among the highest in Jerusalem, and each pupil performs on stage under professional conditions during the course of the school year.

The spacious Younes and Soraya Nazarian Building, which also houses the Academy’s Conservatory of Music, offers facilities at the highest international standards. The pupil-teacher ratio enables individual attention to all students to ensure that they fulfill their artistic, intellectual and emotional potential. Pedagogic and artistic cooperation with the Conservatory enables ongoing support while training these young artists.

Various High School and Conservatory ensembles are often invited to participate in official state and public events in Israel and abroad and perform together with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and other symphony orchestras. In addition, pupils take part in special community projects, performing in homes for the aged and hospitals.

The High School offers a special course of studies for outstanding pupils that enables them to begin their studies at the Academy of Music and Dance during their last year at the High School. Scholarships are awarded to gifted and needy pupils. The High School is recognized as a special, national magnet school, due to the high level of the pupils’ artistic achievements and its unique standing as part of the Academy of Music and Dance Association.

This special relationship ensures a continuum of quality music education, and superior professional supervision of pupils from the youngest age until they receive their artist certificate and master’s degree.

The school accepts pupils from all over the country, without requiring consent of the local authority. Adjacent to the school is the Ein Karmit residential facility. Any pupil who does not reside in Jerusalem is eligible to live in the residence. The facility is located near the village of Ein Kerem, in a lovely and pastoral setting. There is ongoing contact between the pedagogic staffs of the school and the residential facility, as well as regular transportation between the two sites.